Truancy

Research suggests that a majority of nation’s high school students
will successfully complete high school and receive a high school
diploma or their GED. Unfortunately, some students, for whatever
reason, fall through the cracks and begin a downward spiral that
ultimately leads to dropping out of school. Truancy has been
identified as one of the early warning signs that youth are headed for
failure. There is a tremendous ripple effect that impacts a
community many years later after a child becomes truant and drops out
of school.

The truant misses an opportunity to get a quality education to
better him or herself.

The school district loses revenue
each time a child misses instruction. Dollars that would have
otherwise been spent on children in schools in Tarrant County school
districts.

Truants who have nothing better to do tend to
break the law and become a problem for neighborhoods and law
enforcement.

Companies base their decisions to locate in
certain areas based on the number of college graduates.

The Office of Commissioner Brooks has partnered with Fort Worth,
Everman, Crowley, Arlington and many other Tarrant County school
districts as well as Juvenile Services and Justices of the Peace to
combat the issue of truancy. In particular, Tarrant County has
developed a plan called: “Truancy Solutions – A Collaborative Plan for
Schools, Police Departments, Community Agencies and Juvenile Justice System.”

In 2014-2015, the Truancy Solutions plans to accomplish the following:

Continue ongoing meetings with members of the Truancy
Solutions planning committee, individually or in conjunction with
the Tarrant County Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee, related
to updates from their communities and/or districts.

The
establishment a countywide summit to provide updates on truancy
initiatives, including each section of the Truancy Solutions Plan --
Prevention, Intervention and Management.

The establishment
of separate meetings at Tarrant County College Campuses, addressing
selected best practices related to truancy obtained from the Truancy
Solutions Plan and/or updates on programs that are in progress.

Follow up on the October 2013 Criminal Justice Coordinating
Committee meeting, addressing truancy, school attendance and how
truancy relates to human trafficking. Representatives from Tarrant
County school districts and area law enforcement agencies attended
the meeting. The next step is the development of a countywide human
trafficking forum.

Follow-up meetings with the Fort Worth
Independent School District (FWISD) related to truancy updates,
including truancy court, community surveys, as well as policies and
practices..

Continue and expand partnership with FWISD
Attendance Court. The mission of the court is toprovide a
setting that will ensure a timely referral to the court for the
consistent and equitable disposition of truancy cases. As a
component of the comprehensive truancy intervention program (CTIP),
the court was the first school attendance court established in the
State of Texas. The CTIP has been a collaborative effort between
FWISD, the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office, the City of
Fort Worth, Tarrant County Juvenile Probation Department and Lena
Pope Home. The court is located on the campus of Eastern Hills High
School (located at: 5701 Meadowbrook Drive).

TARRANT COUNTY, TEXAS

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